The last of the trees gone!!!!!!

WOOOOOO HOOOOOOO finally the last of the trees have been chopped down. We had a large gumtree which had been forced to grow on an unsafe angle due to all the other trees I've chopped down already. This tree had grown towards the the best light and that meant it was on quite an angle leaning over the house. All the branches were also growing out one side of the tree meaning all the weight was pulling the tree towards the house as well. So no its been chopped down. We also had another large gum tree chopped down, it was within 1 metre of anothert huge gum tree so was competing for space. And lastly we had all the dead wood/branches  chopped off another huge gum tree hanging over the choock pen.

See leaning towards house. Not safe!

On the way down, looks small but it's a big tree!

And it's down! will leave the trunk as it is.

So now the big clean up.  Mulch all the folliage first, then
chainsaw up all the bigger stuff, then split it and finally
stack it up behind shed.

I go the arborist just to get everything down onto the ground. It is my job to now clean up. Stage one of the clean up is to cut off all the folliage. stack it with the thick ends all facing out. (this makes it easy to grab and mulch.  No I can really test out this mulcher. This pile was only half of what needed to be mulched.  In the past I would have burnt all the folliage but this time I created wonderful mulch.  

branches stacked up ready to get mulched!

No i had no idea how long it would take to mulch all the branches but I had resigned myself to it taking a day.  How happy i was to have it all done in two and a half hours. The mulcher has exceeded all my expectations. it's quick, easy and creates a wonderful product, so much better than burning it. Means all that carbon and goodness is returned to the soil/garden. The video below shows the mulcher in action, chewing through and spitting out all that mulch.

And the pile of mulch created!!!

Green Manure Crop between Orchard Rows.

I have now fenced off the whole orchard meaning the chooks can no longer walk between the rows of trees. I tilled up the soil between the rows so it was nice and friable. I sowed a mix of Pea, Oats and Vetch, lightly raked in the seed then watered very well. I put a thin layer of straw over this to help keep the seeds moist to help germinate. I will water each day as it's in the mid 20's and sunny for the next few days.
Once germination has occured I will use a mix of Seasol (a seaweed plant conditioner containing naturally occuring growth regulators, trace elements, carbohydrates and vitamins. Growth regulators have a profound affect on root growth and development. It also increases the plants ablility to deal with heat, drought and frost) to help stimulate root growth and Powerfeed (an organically based fish fertiliser, fortified with essential nutrients as well as humic acids. It's rich in NPK, amino acids and trace elements, it's also fortified with extra nitrogen, potassium, & phosphorus). The mix of Seasol and Powerfeed both stimulates root growth and development and feeds & fertilise the plants giving the newly planted crop the best chance early on.

My aim is to grow the green crop then allow the crop to go to seed, then let the chooks back in to enjoy!

Note new tap on post.

chooks now fenced off from going in between the
rows of trees. Green Manure Crop now planted,
watered in & covered in thin layer of Straw.

 

Water is precious!!!!

Well i have just seen the best idea at a property i did some work at today. It's brilliant.
Under the taps in this garden they had gud and pit, lined it with bricks and then concreted over this to make it hold water. This means when ever the tap is turned on water is caught and this pit fills up.
It means if you need to clean your hands quite often you don't even need to turn on the tap.
It also gives, birds and other wildlife access to cool water.

The inspiration! water held in pit below tap.

So yesterday afternoon I found a large terracotta pot and burried it under the tap near the orchard in my back garden. It had been chucked out by my neighbour on hard rubbish because it had a crack in it. I used sellastic to seal this crack and also to stick a large rock over the bottom drain hole in the put. This has meant the pot now holds water, and everytime I wash my hands after gardening the water is now recycled instead of just seeping away!!!

My take on the one I saw. The chooks love it.

Now that the days are getting warmer i wanted to get the irrigation set up once and for all in the back garden orchard. I decided to move the tap which i had placed inside the chook pen so I dug it up and moved it to the end of the middle row post in the orchard.

I have ordered a 25m Hoselink retractable hose reel and this will be mounted on the post above the tap. This will allow the hose to reach anywhere in the back garden.

I got given an end of a roll of good quallity 13mm soaker hose. I cut three lengths and lay them down at the base of the fruit trees. I then used 13mm polly pipe at the ends to join these togeather. So at the end using T joiners and corner joiners I ended up with the three rows of soaker hose joined at both ends, Think a continuous closed circuit. When this was done I cut the 13mm polly pipe near the tap and used a T joiner to join garden hose to connect the irrigation system to the tap.  By making it a full circuit it means even pressure is obtained the full length of each row.

Irrigation set up, Tap now on post on left.
Polly pipe between post at end of rows are now burried.

The soaker hose was left above the ground laying at the base of the rows of trees. The polly pipe joining the soaker hose at each end of the rows was burried under ground so it dosen't pose a tripping hazard.

So now I can turn on the tap and all trees are watered at once. The soaker hose is now covered with straw to reduce evapouration.